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Marine archaeal community structure from Potter Cove, Antarctica: high temporal and spatial dominance of the phylum Thaumarchaeota

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Abstract

Archaeal communities represent a significant fraction of the Antarctic marine microbial plankton and surely play a relevant role in the proper functioning of the ecosystem. We studied the archaeal community structure in surface water samples from Potter Cove, Antarctica. Temporal and spatial variability was investigated along a whole year cycle using DGGE and 16S rRNA gene sequencing from clone libraries. Additionally, photosynthetic pigments, suspended particulate matter (SPM), salinity and temperature were measured. The multivariate analysis performed using diversity, dominance and richness indexes, and environmental data evidenced a seasonal pattern in the archaeal community and revealed that spring–summer samples clustered separately from autumn to winter ones. High salinity and high values of diversity and richness were related to autumn–winter samples, whereas the spring–summer samples were associated mainly with higher values of temperature, SPM, Chl-a, carotenoids and archaeal dominance. The phylogenetic analysis of five independent clone libraries (467 sequences) showed that 448 sequences fell into a clade containing Nitrosopumilus maritimus and other sequences of ammonia-oxidizing archaea which belong to the Thaumarchaeota phylum. A high fraction of these sequences (62 %) constituted a single cluster containing only highly similar Potter Cove representatives, which probably belong to the same species. Fifteen sequences were affiliated to a group closely related to the order Thermoplasmatales (Euryarchaeota). This work represents a first step towards obtaining a deep understanding of the structure of archaeal communities from Antarctic coastal marine environments and contributes to cover the current gap in knowledge of the dynamics of the archaeoplankton in the Antarctic seas.

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Acknowledgments

This research was carried out under an agreement between the Instituto Antártico Argentino and the Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. This work was supported by grants PICTO 2010-0124 from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) and UBA 20020100100378 from Universidad de Buenos Aires. Also we had the financial support from the European Commission through the Marie Curie Action IRSES, project no 318718, IMCONet (Interdisciplinary Modelling of climate change in coastal Western Antarctica—Network for staff Exchange and Training). We thank Gustavo Latorre, Gastón Aguirre and Oscar Gonzalez for their technical assistance and Cecilia Ferreiro for the correction of the English manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiología Ambiental, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Edgardo A. Hernández & Walter P. Mac Cormack

  2. Department of Ocean Ecosystems, Energy and Sustainability Research Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Anouk M.-T. Piquet & Anita G. J. Buma

  3. Cátedra de Virología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956 piso, C1113AAD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    José L. Lopez

  4. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Cátedra de Biotecnología e Instituto de Nanobiotecnología UBA-CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956 piso 6, C1113AAD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Edgardo A. Hernández & Walter P. Mac Cormack

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  1. Edgardo A. Hernández
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  2. Anouk M.-T. Piquet
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Correspondence to Walter P. Mac Cormack.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

300_2014_1569_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Annual variation of chlorophyll a in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 44 kb)

300_2014_1569_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Annual variation of carotenoids in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 42 kb)

300_2014_1569_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Annual variation of phaeopigments in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 42 kb)

300_2014_1569_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Annual variation of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 38 kb)

300_2014_1569_MOESM5_ESM.tif

Annual variation of temperature in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 35 kb)

Annual variation of salinity in Potter Cove. E1 (inner cove), E2 (outer cove), E3 (mouth of Potter Creek) (TIFF 35 kb)

300_2014_1569_MOESM7_ESM.tif

Rarefaction curves of the archaeal 16S rRNA sequences from Potter Cove sea waters at 97 % identity. a) Rarefaction curve from 5 combined libraries, b) rarefaction curves from each library. The total number of sequenced clones is plotted against the number of OTUs observed in the same library (TIFF 194 kb)

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Hernández, E.A., Piquet, A.MT., Lopez, J.L. et al. Marine archaeal community structure from Potter Cove, Antarctica: high temporal and spatial dominance of the phylum Thaumarchaeota. Polar Biol 38, 117–130 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1569-8

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